The Name Game
by MaddieNicole
Summary: REWRITTEN AND REPOSTED. Alex Blake has some questions. JJ/Hotch, set during season 8, episode 1.


**A/N**: Rewritten and reposted! Just a quick oneshot that I thought of while watching the season premiere a few weeks ago.

**Disclaimer**: I do not own Criminal Minds.

The Name Game

"Hotch calls her JJ."

Spencer Reid looked up at the only other person in the conference room, Alex Blake. He furrowed his eyebrows, puzzled at Blake's random statement.

"I'm sorry?" he asked from his chair. He was reading the writings of their latest unsub and while he did have an eclectic memory, he was unsure why Blake's interruption was necessary.

"Hotch. He calls Agent Jareau 'JJ'," she repeated. Blake had her arms crossed and looked pensive.

Reid squinted and studied his new colleague. "So?"

"Well why? He calls you 'Reid', me 'Blake'…" at Reid's blank look she continued. "Everyone on this team is called by their surname except her."

Reid watched her, perplexed as to why Hotch's communication with JJ mattered to Blake. "We all call her JJ," he explained. He kept his tone frank and simple.

"Yeah but," Blake paused and pulled out a chair. "Hotch is the boss. He's not one of us." She sat down and began to pick up pages and scan the rants of their unsub.

"Hotch is one of us. He treats us as equals, which I'm surprised you haven't noticed by now." The honesty in his statement immediately caught her attention.

"That's not what I meant," she protested.

"Then what did you mean?" Reid asked in his trademark inquisitive voice.

Blake sighed and sat back. "I just think it's strange. In a way it shows favoritism." Blake paused and gauged Reid's reaction. "Don't you all see it?"

"No," he sincerely told her. "Hotch doesn't show favoritism. Calling JJ 'JJ' is something that just is, there really isn't anything more to it." Reid stopped and allowed his response to sink in. He felt protective of JJ and Hotch and wanted to find a way to prove his point. Then he snapped his fingers and pointed at Blake. "You know, Hotch calls Rossi 'Dave' a lot, so how is him calling JJ anything different?"

"Yeah but I've heard Hotch call him 'Rossi' often too. I've not once heard him say 'Jareau' have you?"

"No, but that doesn't mean anything nor does it make anyone uncomfortable," Reid persisted.

"Anyways, aren't him and Rossi old, good friends?"

"Yeah," Reid confirmed.

Blake raised her eyebrows. "So what does that make him and JJ?"

A few seconds of silence blanketed the room. Eventually Reid shook his head. "I don't think you are using correct logic here. In fact, I don't understand the need for this conversation at all," Reid rushed out, though he kept his tone gentle. Blake didn't offer a response so he refocused his eyes on the pages in front of him.

The two of them were still digging through the mass amounts of evidence when Hotch walked in.

"Are you sure, JJ?" Hotch paused and listened to the woman on the other line. "Okay. Is Morgan still with you?" He walked to the table and began searching for something. He lifted various manila folders and papers as he listened to JJ.

He straightened and stilled his hands. "Then wait for him," Hotch ordered. He waited for her agreement before he continued his search. Hotch found a purple folder and he lifted it up. "Found it!" he proclaimed. "Really Jayje? Still on that purple kick?" he teased her. He shook his head and dropped the folder on top of all the other ones and opened it.

"No, I didn't say that, but you've been buying purple everything," he chuckled. "Mmm you're forgetting the drapes and throw blanket," Hotch mumbled quietly as he flipped through the contents of JJ's folder. "Any other kicks you're on that I missed?" He was chuckling again, clearly enjoying their conversation.

JJ answered him on the other end of the line and her response made him smile. "I see. Well as long as none of those turn into a pink phase you're safe." Hotch set aside some papers and stopped at one with a purple sticky note. He smirked and shook his head. He peeled sticky from the paper and stuck it to his index finger. "I know you hate that color, in fact you detest it. I do too," Hotch said. "JJ I've got it. You want me to text it to you?"

He closed the file and walked it over to her bag. He gently tucked it in to the tote and turned back to the table.

"Okay. Is Morgan back?" Something on the table caught his eye and he handed it to Blake. The two of them shared a glance as Hotch mouthed to her to look at it. Blake nodded and took the paper from him.

"Good. Head on over there and call me with what you guys find. Be careful, JJ," Hotch said as he made his way out of the room, shutting the door behind him.

Blake couldn't believe what had just transpired before her eyes. She looked over to Reid to see his reaction but he was still reading and hadn't looked up once when Hotch entered the room.

"_That_ wasn't strange?" she gaped.

Reid sighed but continued to concentrate on his task. "No, not really. That's just how Hotch is with JJ," he told her. "Especially since Will left." Reid immediately raised his eyes from what he was reading and had a deer in the headlights look about him.

Blake understood her colleague's apprehension with sharing such personal information so she shook her head and raised a hand. "Don't worry, I won't," she reassured him.

However, she still couldn't get Hotch's behavior out of her mind and Reid's ambivalence drove Blake nuts.

If Hotch had talked to her that way Alex would fall over. Hotch never joked. Ever.

"Reid he knew what drapes she had…I mean, I just…and he barely acknowledged that we were in the room!" she huffed out. Her eyes were searching Reid's for a more detailed explanation of their unit chief's conduct towards JJ.

"Why would he need to? We're going through evidence, we're working and he's on the phone."

Blake tilted her head and bit her lip. She narrowed her eyes and decided it was best that she backed off or else she'd begin isolate herself from the team. "Okay, Reid," she smiled. "I'll listen to you on this since you know better than me."

"Okay," he stated and went back to reading.

"Okay," Blake sighed. She knew the team was close and even heard them refer to themselves as a family, which seemed strange to her. When Erin hired Blake onto the team she had stressed they were a unique group. However, since she would rather talk to a brick wall than Erin Strauss, Alex didn't question it. Now, their faithfulness to each other and closeness even intimidated her at times.

However, she just couldn't believe how different Hotch was with JJ compared to the rest of them, including herself. She wondered if she only saw it because she was an outsider. Then again, wasn't she on a team compiled of profilers?

Blake glanced through the conference room windows and watched as Hotch presumably was in the process of sending JJ his text. When he was finished he held onto his phone while he turned and talked to a detective.

Something alerted him to his phone which Blake assumed was a response from JJ. He opened it up and read the message and began to smile. While it was small, it was significant since he was in a police station surrounded by unfamiliar officers. Normally he remained strictly professional and stoic when he was with the detectives and policemen the team had flown in to help.

She chuckled and shook her head in disbelief. Something special was definitely present in Hotch and JJ's relationship and she was sure it would eventually come out. She ceased watching Hotch and turned to an inattentive Reid.

For a group of profilers they were really blind sometimes.


End file.
